Marilyn Manson and The Smashing Pumpkins @ Molson Canadian Amphitheatre

Toronto, ON, Canada / 102.1 the Edge

August 10, 2015 11:51 am

Last night rock heroes Marilyn Manson and The Smashing Pumpkins took over the Molson Amphitheatre for their co-headlining “The End Times Tour” for an amazing double bill. The announcement of the tour was shocking to most Marilyn Manson and Billy Corgan fans since the two were rumoured to be in a feud previously.

Manson took the stage first for a set packed with his hits and his much-anticipated theatrics. Manson always puts on a great show and is highly interactive with the audience; his stage persona always gives the audience a large amount of energy to feed off of. At one point in the show Manson refused to perform until concertgoers threw their bras and panties at guitarist Twiggy Ramirez, the audience obeyed and Twiggy’s mic was soon decked out with bras sending Manson into the next song.

Manson truly makes each show a performance focusing on interacting with the audience, jumping around the stage and using props as much as he focuses on his music. Manson’s stage presence is truly what makes him such a great live performer with fans returning to his shows every time he come to Toronto (he was last in Toronto in February). Fans rocked out to Manson’s new hits “Deep Six” and “Third Day of a Seven Day Binge” as well as his classic rebel anthems such as “Disposable Teens” and “The Dope Show”.

The Smashing Pumpkins took the stage next to thrill a hyped-up audience ready to headbang and dance around to Corgan’s unique voice with hits “Zero”. “Bullet With Butterfly Wings”, “Tonight, Tonight”, “Disarm”. Corgan even treated Toronto to “Geek U.S.A “, a song the Pumpkins rarely play live. Recently, original Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin returned to the band for this tour after leaving in 2009 to focus on side projects. Chamberlin and Corgan are the only remaining founding members of the band with the Pumpkins. Despite missing James Iha and D’arcy Wretzky the band sounded straight out of the 90’s. The Pumpkins played all of their older hits steering completely clear of most recent album Oceania. The set was a full on rock set- the band didn’t slow down for a minute.

Last night’s show undoubtedly exceeded expectations of every 90’s alt-rock fan with the dream double bill of Marilyn Manson and The Smashing Pumpkins.